Think About It

The other day I was reading one of the online national media services and I discovered an interesting trend … they were giving me advice.  Rather than reporting the news, they were telling me to do this and not do that.  I realize that most of the advice was found in the “Opinion” section, but what struck me was that they giving me advice on how to live my everyday life.  Now, I am not naive enough to believe that the news media is pure news (I am not sure that it ever has been), but it did get me to thinking about who I allow to influence my decision-making.  Even if the print or electronic media didn’t try to shape my habits and behaviors there are plenty of others who are free with their advice on what I should be doing and how I should be living.  We are surrounded by sources of advice – actors, special interest groups, friends, politicians, preachers, parents, affluent business people and a multitude of others.  In all honesty, I can’t be too critical...

As I sat in my office looking outside at the rain I noticed that when the warm moist air from the outside came in contact with the dry air-conditioned environment inside it fogged up the windows.  I have seen this phenomenon often, but this time it reminded me of a life lesson.  Sitting in the office my view of the world was obscured by my environment and I had trouble seeing what was really going on outside because I was nice and comfortable inside.  The lesson was this, when we look into the world, what do we see?  While it is impossible to completely ignore our own perspective, it is important to understand that not everyone experiences life in the same way we do.  We might be able to enjoy a carefree excitement about what the future holds for us, but people who struggle with depression find it hard (if not impossible) to experience the same joy.  Those of us who are financially stable may downplay the potential impact of an economic policy, but those w...

I realize that Bluegrass music might not be for everyone, but it has been a really good diversion for me over the last few weeks.  Fed up with a lot of the stuff on the radio recently (and bored by the same old hits of days-gone-by on the oldies stations) I started listening to Bluegrass and I have to admit that I am enjoying it a lot more than I expected.  After all, the sound of a banjo just has to make you smile! The other day I was listening to a song by the Gibson Brothers called “Remember Who You Are” which is a new song inspired by an age-old situation.  In the song, as the youngster is going off to make his mark in the world, his parent reminds him to be true to His values and “remember who you are”.  I have always enjoyed this admonition and believe that it can help youngsters successfully find their way through the maze of life.  Yet, while this adage is wonderful, I think there is another one that takes this to a higher level – Remember Whose You...

One of the things that our society has done very well in the last century is educate people.  At the beginning of the 20 th Century a lot of people lacked a basic education, but now, over 90% of Americans have a High School degree and over half of them have at least some college education.  I think this is a great thing, but I am also convinced that there are some things that a formal education can’t teach us.  These principles have to be instilled in us by influences who care about us and must be personally adopted by each one of us.  Among the lessons to be learned are: 1).  We need to be good people .  Education can teach us facts and how to think, but we must understand that our value comes from being caring people who value those around us.  Positive role models and mentors who hold us accountable for our actions are great influences in this aspect of our lives. 2).  We must learn to cope .  Not everything is going to go the way we...

One of my favorite euphemisms for things being out of whack refers to the tail wagging the dog (as opposed to the dog wagging the tail).  While I have seen puppies whose whole bodies seem to be vibrating from a tail being wagged in excitement, the way things are supposed to work is that the tail is an extension of the dog and, as such, the dog controls the tail.    The reason for the analysis of this saying is that there appears to be temptation for tail-wagging in our spiritual lives.   One of the more common challenges among today’s religious groups is how to make the message of God germane to our society.  I understand the challenge of getting people interested in the message of God, but when we begin to focus on God’s relevance to the world we may be missing a major point.  You see, God doesn’t need to prove His place in our lives … this is God’s world, it is our job to be pleasing to Him.  A person who refrains from living a spiritual life...

Why do you love your spouse?  Why do you love your children?  These are interesting questions because I don’t know there is a logical answer to them.  We might be able to describe some things about their personalities that we like or some things they do for us that make us feel good, but is that really why we love them?  If they stopped doing those things would we stop loving them?  No, love is much deeper than a reciprocation for the actions of others.  It is heartfelt; it maybe illogical; it is a choice we make that is not based upon circumstances but on commitment. Why do we love God?  We might be in a better position to explain why we should love God than why we love the frail humans in our lives (including the fact that He first loved us), but when get down to the core of the matter it is because we choose to love Him.  We take Him at His word and accept Him unconditionally as the God.  We don’t over-analyze His commands or His bles...

Have you noticed how dedicated we are to finetuning our “Instant Society”?  We can point a finger at each of the past generations and critique them for not being satisfied with the status quo, but we are all guilty.  We want what we want when we want it.  From instant coffee to drive-through fast food to same-day shipping we continue the march to instant gratification.  When we step back and look at the impact this is having on our society one of the most notable impacts is impatience, but I think there might be something else – a lack of coping.  Our view of the here-and-now has elevated it to being perceived as the most important era of all times.  In an effort to elevate what is happening today to a place of global and historic importance we tend to overstate things:  Today’s thunderstorm is the “most horrific” on record!  Today’s society is the “worst in history”!  Today’s political turmoil will lead us into “national obscurity”!  I...